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Residents of the Southland town of Mataura have their bags packed ready for evacuation in case potentially lethal ammonia gas is released from the toxic waste stored there.
The old paper mill in Mataura, Southland.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
A nearby fire on Monday was the third incident in just six months that had threatened the ouvea premix that was dumped there six years ago. Slag is a by-product of aluminum production at Tiwai Point.
Meanwhile, the Minister of the Environment joins the legal actions to determine if the producer of the waste, Rio Tinto, is responsible for it.
After being given just five minutes to leave her home in February, amid fears that the Mataura River had flooded the old paper mill where the slag was stored, this time Karen Turipa wanted to be ready and began making the suitcases.
“A lot of people I know have their bags packed ready to go. That’s no way to live and some of these people are older, some are young. You know, you’re watching Facebook and our path was getting blocked off, and you’re thinking ‘God mine, what are we going to do? ‘ “
8,500 tons of highly volatile waste were stored near the city’s 1,600 residents.
Turipa lives 500 meters from her, and her son and family live even closer.
“My daughter-in-law was trying to go back home, because they live not far away and they can’t go back. We shouldn’t have to live like this.
While yesterday’s fire at a hydroelectric plant 30 meters away from the slag was quickly contained, water posed the main threat, and the waste emitted deadly ammonia gas if it came in contact with it.
Ouvea premix, or slag, is stored in loose bags in Southland.
Photo: Order the Dross Facebook page
There was another close call in July when frozen water pipes burst and flooded the area where the waste was stored.
Another resident, Robina Johnston, said she had spent a lot of money since the company hired Rio Tinto to deal with dros, which closed in 2016.
“There are three massive incidents in six months and the risk to the Mataura River, the risk to people’s health. How much can a municipality withstand?”
Sort Out the Dross Action Group spokeswoman Cherie Chapman said an agreement the Gore District Council reached with the smelter and other parties in July last year had only resulted in a truckload of waste being taken away from I return to Tiwai Point every week, and at this rate it would take six years to finish the job.
“I’m puzzled as to why they don’t rescind that deal that they had to slowly pull it out and make it a fast track process. It took three months to get that whole batch and they have eight thousand five hundred tons to go. They could end that in two. or three months. “
Cherie Chapman said she was now in debt to the Minister of the Environment to step in and find a place to store the waste that was not close to a densely populated city.
“It’s a hell of a situation for the people of Mataura to live there, you know what if we have lightning and we have another flood, what the hell? So I think you know that my heart goes out to those people in Mataura, they shouldn’t have to put up with this “.
Rio Tinto directed questions about the slag to the Gore District Council, which said it had a contract for its disposal.
Gore District Mayor Tracy Hicks said she was moving as fast as she could.
“I am very aware of the level of anxiety that exists in Mataura because there is that concern of, you know; What if, what could happen?
“And I don’t think the community has a responsibility to deal with this, but the task of picking up the pieces has been left to the community. We have taken up that mantle and led the charge.”
In a statement, Environment Minister David Parker confirmed that he had joined the legal actions of the Society for the Defense of the Environment to clarify whether Rio Tinto was responsible for the slag.
He said he understood the impatience of the locals and wanted to see the removal of the slag accelerated.
